Ghosts
by Duncan Johnson
Summary: People are dying, apparently murdered by ghosts. Can the X-Men solve the mystery before the Brotherhood harness this power for themselves?
1. Episode One

_Disclaimer: The X-Men and related characters are the property of Marvel Comics and are used without permission. This is a non-profit making work of fan-fiction._

**_The Uncanny X-Men_**

**Ghosts**

By Duncan Johnson

Episode One

Miriam Cornish liked the colours best. She liked the way the paintings seemed to have their own glow. She suspected that, were all of the lights in the museum to be turned off, she would still be able to admire the artwork.

This part of the museum was not too crowded. People came to the Louvre first to see the Mona Lisa and then, maybe, to glance at two or three other paintings. The majority of work in the gallery went tragically unnoticed. Which was just the way Miriam liked it since it meant that she could admire some of her personal favourite pictures without having to elbow her way across the room to get to them.

It had been Gregory's idea to visit Paris. A weekend away to try to save their failing marriage. Ever since Tommy had died, well, things had been rather strained between the two of them. Gregory had hoped that a holiday might give them a chance to heal, to move on. 

No such luck.

They had begun arguing almost as soon as they got off of the plane. Now Gregory was brooding back in the hotel, probably assisted in the effort by a friendly barman, while she went out to indulge her passion.

It had been a tragic accident. Intellectually, she knew that. But Gregory had been with Tommy when he died. Surely there must have been something he could have done.

Someone was speaking to her in French. It was one of the museum staff. Miriam did not speak French - not very well, anyway - but she caught the gist.

'I'm fine,' she said, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. 'I've just got something in my eye.'

She turned away.

'Don't cry, Mommy,' said a voice behind her.

Miriam turned and looked down.

'Tommy?' she breathed.

He smiled up at her. His brown hair had been tussled in the wind and he was holding a red balloon in his right hand. She had given him a red balloon on the day he

'On the day I died, Mummy?' Tommy asked. 'But I'm not dead.'

'No, baby, no you're not.'

Miriam fell to her knees and scooped her son up in her arms.

She was so overcome with joy that she didn't even feel the knife sliding between her ribs.

* * *

'So, why are we here again exactly,' Bobby Drake asked. He and two of his fellow X-Men stood at the stood at the edge of the courtyard that surrounded the glass pyramid that marked the entrance to the Musee de Louvre. Earlier in the day, the courtyard had been filled with tourists. Now it had been occupied by emergency personnel.

'Does twenty-seven dead bodies answer your question, Bobby?' Warren Worthington asked.

'Hey, I'm not pretending something terrible didn't happen here,' Bobby replied hastily. 'I'm just wondering whether this is really X-Men stuff, that's all.'

'Loathe as I am to admit it, I agree with Drake,' Jean-Paul Beaubier added.

'No I know I'm in the wrong,' Bobby muttered.

'You are a practical man, Worthington,' Jean-Paul continued. 'So is Xavier, though he may be given to flights of fancy. Surely you cannot expect the X-Men to respond to every tragic event that occurs around the globe. We should conserve our efforts solely for dealing with mutant-related issues.'

'Well, that's terribly selfless of your, Northstar,' Warren remarked. 'Whatever happened to helping people simply because it's the right thing to do.'

'I am simply saying that our efforts may be better spent elsewhere,' Jean-Paul elaborated. 'Even Drake agrees with me.'

'Hey, I never admitted to that,' Bobby interjected.

'Be that as it may,' Warren continued, 'the Professor had a feeling about this and so we're going to check it out whether you like it or not.'

'A feeling,' Jean-Paul repeated. 'Heaven help us. Very well, where do we start? At least we can try and get this over with as quickly as possible.'

'Got a hot date tonight, Northstar?' Bobby asked.

'Why, is it so hard to believe that there might be one member of this sorry little band who can sustain a relationship?' Jean-Paul retorted.

'Enough, you two,' Warren snapped. 'Northstar, you're going to help me see what we can learn here.'

'And what am I going to do while you two play Columbo?' Bobby asked.

Warren smiled.

'You're going to see what you can learn from the survivors.'

* * *

'Remind me again why we're here.'

Jonathan Starsmore tightened his leather coat as he walked trailed through the dark Moscow streets behind his companion.

'I'm here to visit an old friend,' Logan snarled back. 'Quite why you felt the need to tag along is anybody's guess.'

'Hey, you think this was my choice,' Jono snapped. 'I'm just following orders here. Like I want to be somewhere this cold.'

'Dunno what you're complaining about, kid,' Logan commented. 'I wouldn't have thought you had enough of a nervous system left to feel the cold.'

'Yeah, well, I don't know how it works either,' Jono remarked, 'but it does and I'm bloody freezing.'

'Poor baby,' Logan mocked. 'If you're lucky Andrei's got central heating at his place. Should be able to afford it with all the money he squirreled away during his KGB days.'

Jono stopped walking and stared at his companion.

'Your friend's KGB?' he said.

'Ex,' Logan muttered. 'And maybe not even then. Andrei was the sort of guy who liked to play both sides against the middle as long as he ended up on top.'

'And we're visiting this guy because?' Jono asked.

'Because he asked us to,' Logan replied. 'He claims to have intel I might be interested in.'

'And you trust him?'

Logan sighed.

'Don't be daft. How you ever got to be an X-Man I'll never know'

The walked the rest of the journey in silence. Five minutes later, Logan stopped and rapped on a door with a gloved hand.

'Hey, Andrei,' he shouted, 'you've got company.'

'Guess he's not in,' Jono said when they received no response.

'I'll take that bet,' Logan growled. 'Hear that?'

'Hear what?'

'Sound of a struggle,' Logan confirmed. 'Figure someone's having fun without us.'

'I don't hear anything,' Jono reiterated.

'This is no time for a debate, kiddo,' Logan snarled, popping the three adamantium claws on his right hand and slicing through the door lock. Then he kicked the door in.

'So,' he said to Jono, 'you coming or not?'

* * *

Northstar was not having much luck obtaining information.

'Excuse me, officer,' he began, picking a short, bearded man near the centre of proceedings, 'perhaps you would mind telling me what's going on here.'

'Perhaps I would mind,' the officer said, not looking at Jean-Paul. Then he glanced up. 'Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?'

'It's quite possible,' Jean-Paul said as patiently as he could.

'You mean you don't recognise him, Robert?' Another officer looked over from where he was taking statements. 'That's one of them Canadian mutants. Northwind, isn't it?'

'Northstar,' Jean-Paul corrected. Cretin, he muttered under his breath.

'A mutant,' another cop spat. 'What do we want their kind around here for?'

'Hey,' the officer taking statements said. 'A couple of those mutants saved a bunch of us during a terrorist attack a couple of years back. They're okay in my book. 'Sides, Northwind's one of the good guys.'

Jean-Paul was torn between thanking the police officer or throttling him. He settled for doing neither.

'I remember you now,' the bearded officer - Robert - said. 'You're that Olympic ski champ, aren't you?'

'Former champion,' Jean-Paul said. It was not a boast, just a statement of fact as far as Jean-Paul was concerned.

'The _queer_ ski champ,' Robert continued.

Jean-Paul frowned and he leaned forward slightly, rocking on the balls of his feet.

'Do you have a problem with that?' he asked.

'Damn right I have a problem, Nancy boy.'

Jean-Paul took a deep breath and counted to ten. At super-speed.

'Your narrow-minded bigotry isn't the issue here,' he said. 'I just want to help.'

'Well maybe we don't want your kind of help.'

Jean-Paul clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, then relaxed.

'It never changes, does it?' he murmured to no one in particular as he turned and walked away. 

'Any luck?' Warren asked, crossing the courtyard to join him.

'With these imbeciles?' Jean-Paul asked. 'You?'

Warren shook his head. 'Let's hope Bobby's having a better time of it.'

Jean-Paul released a short barking laugh. '

'If our hopes rest with Drake then we really are in trouble.'

'You should cut Bobby some slack,' Warren said. 'He's not a kid anymore. He's proved himself.'

'Not to me he hasn't,' Jean-Paul replied.

Warren was about to reply, but then put a hand to his earpiece.

'What is it, Angel-man?' Jean-Paul asked.

'The professor's getting reports of another incident,' Warren explained. 'London this time.'

'I'm there,' Jean-Paul said, flexing his body and taking to the air.

'Northstar, wait!' Warren began, but Jean-Paul was already just a speck on the horizon.

* * *

'Mr Bertram?' Bobby asked as he stepped into the hospital room.

'That's me,' the old man said, sitting up in his bed. 'And who might you be, young man?'

'I'm Bobby Drake,' Bobby said, extending a hand. Bertram's handshake was strong despite his age.

'You've got cold hands, Bobby,' Bertram remarked.

'Yes, er, sorry about that,' Bobby apologised.

'So, what can I do for you, Bobby?' Bertram asked.

'I just wanted to ask you a few questions about the attack,' Bobby explained. 'If that's okay with you, sir.'

'Why, are you a policeman or something?'

'Or something,' Bobby replied. 'So, what happened?'

'You're going to think I'm crazy,' Bertram said.

'Oh, I've seen my fair share of crazy already,' Bobby told him. 'You'll have to go some to freak me out.'

Bertram smiled.

'Three years ago, my wife died,' Bertram began. 'She had contracted cancer six months before, stomach cancer. The doctor's had tried to treat it, but nothing they did seemed to work. And the pain just kept getting worse and worse. So in the end Marie threw herself in front of a subway train just to end her suffering.'

'I'm sorry,' Bobby said. 'But what does that have to do with what happened in the Louvre.'

'I'm just getting to that, young man,' Bertram admonished. 'I saw her, you see. Clear as I see you standing in front of me now. She was there, in the museum with me. And she talked to me and told me how much she loved me and how much it didn't hurt any more. And she promised to take all of my pain away too. And then she lunged at me with a knife.

'But you know what the worst part of it is, Bobby? For just a moment there, I actually wanted her to kill me. Just so we could be together again. God, I miss her so much.'

'Toad.'

The room was a mess. Furniture was upturned, much of it broken. Logan and Jono were probably standing in the only patch of clear floor space. Toad had avoided that problem altogether. He was sticking to the wall, Andrei unconscious in his arms.

'Wolverine,' Toad said, 'I wish I could say it was a pleasure.'

'Yeah, sure you do, Toynbee,' Logan snarled. 'Now why don't you put the old guy down and you and I cantalk.'

Logan popped both sets of claws and the metal gleamed in the moonlight shining through the windows.

'Oh, I don't think so, Wolverine,' Toad said, flicking his slime-drenched tongue in and out of his mouth. 'Much as I'd love to stay and play, I've got what I came for so I'd best be going.'

'Maybe you don't get a say in the matter,' Logan growled.

Toad sprang. He bounced off first one wall, then another and then both of his feet collided with Logan's chest. As Logan staggered backwards, Toad used his momentum to carry him and his cargo out through the window, glass shattering around him as he disappeared into the darkness.

'You just wait until I get my hands on you, Toynbee,' Logan muttered, regaining his footing.

'Er, Logan,' Jono said, putting a hand on his companion's shoulder, 'I think we have bigger problems.

The ground was shaking. Windows were rattling in their frames. Ornaments wobbled along shelves before falling off of the edge and smashing on the ground.

'What the' Logan began.

Then the building collapsed.

* * *

Waterloo Station had erupted in chaos.

People were screaming. Many were running for the exits. Still others were on their knees, arms clasped around phantoms Jean-Paul could barely make out. As he came into land beneath the clock in the centre of the concourse he watched a patch of blood blossom like a flower down the front of a woman's blouse. She fell forward onto the tiled floor, the light leaving her eyes before she struck the ground.

'Calique!' Jean-Paul swore. He had shot off here without any plan, just a desire to do something. But now that he was here, he realised just how out of his depth he really was. And it was not a feeling the Canadian relished.

'Jean-Paul?' a timid, frightened voice said. 'Who are zese people? What am I doing here?'

A woman was approaching him. She seemed tiny, arms wrapped around herself. Her hair was done up in a bun and large glasses shielded her face.

'Jean-Paul,' she continued in a thick French accent. 'I am so scared. What is zis place?'

'Jeanne-Marie?' Jean-Paul breathed. He shook his head to clear it. What was his sister doing here? She had been missing for months and when last he saw her she had not been Jeanne-Marie. She had been

'Aurora?' Jeanne Marie took off her glasses and threw them away, shaking out her long hair. 'Yes, I'm here, too, brother dear. We're both here to see you.'

'But...' Jean-Paul began.

'You should have searched for us,' Aurora scolded him. 'You could at least have made some kind of effort. But we don't mind. We're here to forgive you.'

And Jean-Paul saw the knife in his sister's hand.

* * *

Paige Guthrie closed the book she was reading and sighed. Theoretical physics she didn't have a problem with, but nineteenth century Russian literatureShe folded her reading glassed and stowed them in her bag. Then she removed the rubber band holding her hair up and ran her hands threw the long blonde tresses.

Stretching to work the kinks from her body, she got up and returned the book to the shelf before leaving the library. She was stiff from sitting down for so long. Perhaps a run would be a good idea. Once round the lake should do it.

She stepped out of the school building and into the bright sunshine. She shielded her eyes with her hand as she hurried back to her dormitory. Her route took her past the basketball courts and she could see that Juggernaut was throwing his weight around again. She could not see what his interest in the game was, though, given that his size meant that there was neither skill nor effort involved in putting the ball through the hoop. A small group of kids had gathered round the edge of the court and were cheering him on. She sighed. It was amazing the sort of things people found entertaining.

Her dorm was on the edge of campus, but that was okay. She liked the walk. The door could only be opened using a swipe card and she paused outside as she rooted in her bag for her card.

Then she noticed movement in the shrubbery to her left.

She took a step closer.

A bald black kid broke from cover and began sprinting in the direction of the tress.

'Hey, you! Stop!' Paige shouted after him.

The boy looked back at her and Paige felt her heart rate quicken as she got a look at his face.

'Everett?' she said.


	2. Episode Two

Episode Two

'There is no way I'm gonna to die like this,' Jono declared. 'No bloody way.'

Coat and bandages whipped around him as he unleashed the energy of the furnace that roiled inside of him. The blast billowed outward, catching the chunks of falling masonry and forcing them away.

'Hey, watch where you're pointing that thing, kid,' Logan complained as he dived for cover on the floor.

'Shut your gob, Logan,' Jono retorted. 'I'm the one trying to keep a sodding building off us here.'

The floor rippled, rising up like a tidal wave and knocking Jono off of his feet.

'Think you can do something about that, old man?' Jono asked, clambering to his knees.

'Time me,' Logan growled.

He leaped over furniture as it rode the turbulent ground and somersaulted through an open window. Landing in a crouch, he sniffed the air.

'Figures,' he muttered to himself.

He raced down the street.

'Come on, Avalanche, show yourself,' he shouted.

'With pleasure.'

Avalanche soared down the street, riding a wave of rock and earth. He leaped off just as the crest of the wave struck Logan, burying the other mutant beneath it.

First one clawed fist, then another punched through the rock, the blades slicing through the debris like it was whipped cream.

'Cute trick,' Logan remarked. 'Want to see one of mine?'

'Some other time, huh, Wolverine?'

Toad dropped from the sky, hit the ground and bounced up again, feet leading the way as he collided with Logan's face. Toad spun backwards, landing on all fours beside his partner.

'Hey, Avalanche,' he said, 'time's a-wasting. Boss lady wants us back pronto.'

'Well, what are we hanging around for?' Avalanche demanded.

Toad shrugged and hopped away.

'Not so fast, tough guy,' Logan snarled. 'I ain't done with you yet.'

Avalanche stretched out his hand. His eyes rolled back his head and the ground shook. Cracks criss-crossed the pavement between him and Logan. Then a chunk of rock shot up from the ground and struck Logan in the temple.

He collapsed to the ground.

'Now you're done,' Avalanche said.

* * *

'Everett?' 

The boy sprinted off ahead and Paige Guthrie gave chase. As she ran, she questioned what she was doing. Everett Thomas was dead. She had helped bury him. Whoever this was, it could not be Everett. So why was she chasing him?

None of these doubts slowed her down any.

'Everett' ducked behind the dorm building. The courts were back here and a basketball game was in progress involving a number of students. Since the Professor had gone public, the school had been flooded with new pupils, of all shapes and descriptions. Given that the use of powers was obviously acceptable in the game, the whole affair was quite chaotic to watch. Beautiful, in its own way, but quite chaotic.

Paige didn't have time to watch, however. Her quarry was already beyond the court. But how had he got over the fence so fast? More to the point, how was she going to do the same? She could always husk and then tear her way through, but she doubted the Professor would approve. 

Then she spotted that Angel girl.

That kid had a serious attitude problem. Paige had tried introducing herself once and had then resolved never to go near the girl again. Guess she was about to break that promise.

Angel was airborne, the basketball clutched in her hands as she looked for someone to pass to. Paige jumped, her hand grabbing Angel by the ankle.

'Hey!' Angel began.

Paige kicked out with her legs, swinging forwards and upwards. The sole of her shoe connected with the top of the fence and Paige released Angel, propelling herself up and out of the court. The breath shot from her body as she landed badly, but she ignored it as she continued her pursuit.

A string of expletives erupted from Angel, but Paige ignored them too.

'Everett' flowed like smoke between the students wandering the campus. Paige was not so skilful and more than one student found their behind striking the ground as Paige forced them out of her way.

Her lungs burned, her legs ached, but Paige kept pounding, kept striving to go that little bit further, that little bit faster. And she was gaining. Little by little, she was actually gaining on him.

She was practically striking his heels as the boy dived into the school building. 

Paige lunged right after him

and collided with Nightcrawler.

'Wie gehts?' the blue-furred mutant asked. 'What is going on here?'

'I was chasing' Paige panted. 'Didn't you see?'

'Paige,' Kurt said, 'I have seen no-one else but you.'

'But I was right behind him,' Paige insisted. 'You must have seen him.'

Kurt just looked at her blankly.

Paige buried her head in her hands.

'I must be losing my mind,' she complained.

'Another long afternoon in the library?' Kurt asked.

'Yeah.' Paige nodded.

'I admire your desire to always keep pushing yourself,' Kurt told her, 'but even the greatest of brains needs to take a break once in a while.'

'Yeah, I guess,' Paige admitted. 'Maybe I'll go and lie down for a bit.'

Paige turned to leave. Then she spotted Everett out of the corner of her eye. She was about to say something when Kurt turned and walked through the figure. Paige's mouth fell open in shock and she blinked. When she opened her eyes, Everett was gone.

'Oh God, now I'm hallucinating,' she moaned.

Kurt paused.

'Did you say something, Paige?' he asked.

'Ghosts,' Paige whispered. 'I'm seeing ghosts.'

'Sorry?'

'Nothing,' Paige replied hastily. 'I'll see you around, 'kay.'

She practically ran to her room.

* * *

In less time than it takes to blink, Jean-Paul swept his arm down and knocked the knife from his sister's hand.

'I do not know who you are,' he declared, 'but you are not Jeanne-Marie. I refuse to believe that my sister is dead.'

'How can you deny the evidence of your own eyes, brother dear?' Aurora asked. She reached out and caressed his cheek with her hand. 'Some things are simply out of your control.'

Jean-Paul grabbed her by the wrist and forced her hand away.

'You are not my sister,' he repeated. 'I deny you.'

'Please, Jean-Paul,' Aurora cried. 'You're hurting me.'

'I'll do worse than that if you don't tell me who you are and what is going on here,' Jean-Paul snapped.

'I've already told you,' Aurora insisted. 'I'm your sister's ghost.'

'Liar!' Jean-Paul screamed.

His hand closed around empty air and the image of Aurora faded away before his eyes.

'Calique,' he muttered softly. 'What magic is this?'

He glanced around the station concourse. The phantoms he had noticed before were no longer visible. All around him people were moving as if waking from a trance, those that hadn't already fallen victim to whatever had been going on here.

There was a buzzing noise in his ear.

'Northstar,' Warren's voice called, 'come in please. Are you okay?'

'Would it be a great disappointment to you if I were to say yes?' Jean-Paul asked.

'Cut the crap, Jean-Paul,' Warren snapped. 'What were you thinking rushing off like that?'

'I was trying to save lives,' Jean-Paul retorted as he scanned the concourse. 'I thought that was what you wanted, Angel-man.'

'Whatever,' Warren replied. 'You're damn lucky to be alive. Listen, Bobby's been speaking to the Paris survivors and we think we know what's going on. Seems these people are being attacked by the ghosts of dead loved ones.'

'Yes, I had actually worked that out for myself,' Jean-Paul said, 'but you input is as valuable as ever.'

There was something going on over the far side of the station. Jean-Paul strained his eyes to make it out.

'What we don't know,' Warren was saying, 'is what's causing it.'

There was a figure bundled up in an overcoat and scarf running from the station. Jean-Paul had noticed him before, standing off to one side, watching all that was going on.

'I think I may be a step ahead of you on that one too,' he told Warren.

'Jean-Paul, don't!' Warren snapped. 'We're on our way. Don't do anything until we've arrived.'

'I'm sorry, Worthington,' Jean-Paul said. 'I didn't quite catch that.'

The guy in the overcoat was already outside when Northstar took to the air. He was running across a bridge spanning a main road. He could see the river in the distance, the London Eye peeking over the tops of nearby buildings. 

He had barely taken two more steps when Northstar overtook him.

'Hold it right there,' Jean-Paul said, blocking the man's escape. 'You and I need to have a little talk.'

The man raised a hand and a ghostly image of Aurora shimmered between the two of them. It disappeared almost as soon as it had formed, however.

'You've already tried that trick,' Jean-Paul said. 'And I wouldn't try any of my other dear departed colleagues, if I were you. People in Alpha Flight have an annoying tendency to come back from the dead. However, I would like to thank you for confirming what I had up until now only suspected, that you are the one responsible for these atrocities. So, are you going to come quietly, or is this going to get messy. And, given that you decided to make this personal, I'm hoping it's that latter.'

'Me too.'

Jean-Paul spun to face the new voice.

The Blob was standing on the far side of the bridge.

'Surprise, canuck,' he said.

Then he brought his foot down, hard, and the bridge collapsed.

* * *

'What happened to you?' Jono asked as Logan re-entered the ruined building.

'Ran into an old friend,' Logan replied.

Jono looked him up and down.

'Literally?' he asked.

'Funny,' Logan said. 'Now how about earning your keep and helping me search this place.'

'Well, that shouldn't be too difficult,' Jono commented. 'It's not like there's much of this place left to search. So what are we looking for anyway.'

'Files, documents,' Logan grunted, 'anything that'll tell us why Andrei was so keen to see me. And why Toad and Avalanche were so keen to see him.'

'Avalanche?' Jono said. 'Again?'

'Guess some people never learn,' Logan remarked. 'Now, are you gonna get your hands dirty or just back-talk?'

'Well, I was thinking that maybe Iokay, I'm searching, I'm searching.'

* * *

'What the hell were you thinking?' Mimic snapped at Blob. 'You almost killed the very person we're here to collect.'

Mimic's wings beat lazily as he kept aloft, the mystery mutant cradled in his arms.

'Hey, you caught him, right,' Blob said, 'so what's the harm. 'Sides, we're one less X-freak now.'

'You think?' Jean-Paul tapped Blob on the shoulder. 'Trust me, it's very difficult to surprise people with super fast reactions. Everyone else moves as if in slow motion. And you, my friend, well you might as well not be moving at all.'

'Well what're you going to do about it, Frenchie?' Blob demanded. 'Hit me? I'm the Blob, man. Nothing can hurt me.'

'Allow me to test that theory,' Jean-Paul said and he landed a punch right between the Blob's eyes. Blob was right, a single punch from Northstar could not hurt him and Jean-Paul knew this. Which was why he punched him seventy-two times in the space of one second.

Blob's eyes crossed and he tumbled backwards, off of the bridge. He fell into the middle of the road, the ground cratering under him. A car collided with him and its front crumpled upon impact.

'You know,' Mimic said, 'for taking the wind out of that guy's sails I'm almost tempted to let you live. Almost.'

Beams of ruby light shot out from Mimic's eyes towards Jean-Paul. The blast tore a large chunk out of the ground were the X-Man had been standing milliseconds before.

'You'll have to hit me first,' Jean-Paul said, 'and I'm not planning on holding still for you.'

'Really?' Mimic asked. 'We'll see about that.'

'What do you' Jean-Paul tried to take to the air and found he couldn't move.

'It's called telekinesis,' Mimic explained. 'One of the advantages of having all of the powers of the original X-Men. Say goodnight now, Gracie.'

Mimic unleashed another optic blast and this time Jean-Paul did not, could not, dodge.

* * *

'This what you're looking for?' Jono asked, proudly holding up a file.

'What is it?' Logan asked without looking up.

'How should I know?' Jono retorted. 'I don't read Russian.'

'All right, all right,' Logan muttered. 'Give it here.' He thumbed through the pages. 'Yeah, this is the stuff, all right. Seems the KGB had their own interest in mutants.'

'Let me guess, it wasn't philanthropic,' Jono remarked.

'Got that right,' Logan agreed. 'Seems our friends here were after some kind of mutant assassin. And I'd say they found it. A seven year-old with the power to manifest images lifted from the target's subconscious and use them to kill. Subject K-32.'

'K-32?' Jono repeated. 'Doesn't he even warrant a name?'

'You name your knife and fork?' Logan asked. 'Sorry, bad example. Point is, this kid was just a tool to them, not a real person at all.'

'How do you suppose the kid reacted to that?'

'Badly, according to this,' Logan replied. 'Started to develop psychotic tendencies so in the end they locked him up. For nineteen years.'

'And now he's loose,' Jono deduced.

'And able to act out all those sick little fantasies he's been nursing for the past couple of decades.'

'This is bad, right,' Jono said. 'I mean, really bad.'

'It gets worse,' Logan continued. 'Looks like the Brotherhood is after him and if they get access to a killing machine with that much power'

'Well, what are we hanging about here for?' Jono asked.

'My thoughts exactly, kid.'

* * *

The blast catapulted Jean-Paul backwards and straight into Warren's arms.

'I've got you,' Warren muttered as he flew back up to the Blackbird.

'But who's got you?' Mimic asked as he swooped after the mutants.

Then he felt his wings becoming heavier. And colder.

'That would be me,' Bobby declared, standing at the open hatch of the Blackbird.

Finally, the build-up of ice on Mimic's wings became too much and he began plummeting to the ground. He threw his cargo into the air, then snagged the edge of the ruined bridge with his toes as he fell past. He swung himself beneath it and somersaulted up and around so that he landed safely on his feet, arms outstretched to catch the falling Russian mutant.

'You know, this guy's got moves,' Bobby remarked as Warren strapped Jean-Paul's unconscious body into a seat.

'Yeah? Well, he's not the only one.'

Warren leaped from the plane, wings folded behind him so that he fell like a stone. Mimic launched a barrage of optic blasts in his direction, but he was too slow and Warren falling too fast.

Then Warren unfurled his wings, breaking his fall suddenly. His flight path levelled out and he led the way with his fists, which connected sharply with Mimic's jaw.

'Care to go another round?' Warren laughed as he banked beneath the bridge ready for another pass.

He cried out in pain as a massive hand clamped around his ankle, shattering bone.

'Going somewhere, bird-boy?' the Blob asked.

'Hey fatso,' Bobby called, 'pick on somebody your own size. If you can find somebody that is.'

'II...' The Blob's eyes started to glaze over.

'Feel that, Blobbo,' Bobby continued. 'That's me cooling your brain so that things are happening even slower in there than usual. Bummer, right?'

'Truer words never spoken, Snowcone,' Toad remarked as he hopped from one wall to another. His tongue whipped from his mouth and wrapped itself around Bobby's waist before yanking him from the aircraft.

'Gross,' Bobby said, examining the slime-drenched tongue encircling him. 'No tongues on the first date.'

He clamped both hands around the green flesh and concentrated. A wave of ice swept down the tongue and struck Toad, who bounded away in pain. Released, gravity decided to take hold of Bobby so he quickly whipped up an ice ramp he could use to slide to the ground.

'Quit playing around, Blob,' Avalanche scolded his enormous team-member who was waving Archangel about like a rag-doll. 'We've got what we came for so let's move out.'

'Aw, you're no fun,' Blob whined as he threw Warren to one side.

'Yeah, Avalanche,' Bobby agreed as he shifted from flesh to his ice form, 'we're just getting to the good part.'

'You can say that again,' Avalanche replied and he extended his hand in the direction of the Blackbird. The plane began to vibrate, slowly at first, but soon it was shaking itself apart. The engines gave out under the strain and the Blackbird tipped forward in a nosedive.

'Northstar!' Bobby shouted as the plane fell.

He braced himself with his legs apart and closed his eyes, focussing his power and picturing in his mind the effect he wanted to create.

'You'd damn well better thank me for this when to wake up,' he muttered through clenched teeth.

When he opened his eyes again, the Blackbird had stooped falling. It was trapped like a fly in amber in the mountain of ice Bobby had created in the middle of the street.

But the Brotherhood was gone. And they had Subject K-32 with them.


	3. Episode Three

Episode Three

'Cain, I need your help.'

Charles Xavier stepped out on to the lawn. It was late October, but in the sunshine it was quite pleasant.

'So?' Cain Marko replied. He picked up another rocked, about the size of his brother's bald head, and sent it skimming across the lake. Down at the water's edge, Sammy jumped up and down and cheered. Cain grunted in acknowledgement.

'I think he likes you, Cain,' Xavier remarked.

'So?' Cain looked about for another rock to hurl. 'What do I care what the runt thinks?'

'I think you do care, Cain,' Xavier commented. 'I think you care a great deal.'

'What is this,' Cain shot back, hefting a larger rock, 'Psychology 101? You think that just cause you can't get in my head the usual way I'm a prime target for some kind of psychoanalysis?' He threw the rock and it sailed halfway across the lake, before strike the surface and skimming almost all the way to the opposite bank. 'Well maybe I don't care what you think either.'

'Perhaps.' Xavier folded his hands on top of his walking-cane and waited.

'What?' Cain demanded after a couple of minutes of silence.

Xavier stared at the birds flying across the lake.

'You're not going to go away, are you?' Cain asked.

'Well, it is my school,' Xavier pointed out.

'Okay, okay, if it'll get rid of you,' Cain complained. 'What is it you want my help with?'

'My X-Men have run into some trouble concerning a Russian mutant. It would appear that the boy was a prisoner of the Russian secret service who wanted to utilise his mutant gift for assassinations, his mutant gift, incidentally, being the power to create solid images of deceased loved ones and then use them to kill. It would appear, however, that his time in capacity has had an unfortunate effect upon his mental condition.'

'In English, Cueball,' Cain said.

'The boy is psychotic,' Xavier explained. 'He enjoys nothing more than murdering large numbers of people in public places while he watches their suffering.'

Cain laughed.

'And that's what you call an 'unfortunate effect', is it?' he said. 'So what's the problem? The little X-nerds need some help bringing this freak to heel?'

'It's not quite that simple, Cain,' Xavier continued. 'It would appear that the Brotherhood of Mutants have learned of the boy's abilities and wish to utilise him for their own ends.'

'Their own ends being wanton acts of terrorism and violence?' Cain said. 'What can I say? I'm something of a fan.'

Xavier released a slow silent breath.

'Be that as it may,' he said, 'it is imperative that the Brotherhood be stopped before more people are killed. It would be a great help if the X-Men could count on the strength of the Juggernaut.'

'No doubt,' Cain replied, 'but I still don't see what any of this has to do with me. I didn't sign on to be a hero.'

'Few people do,' Xavier said, 'but that doesn't stop them from doing what's right when the situation demands. Take little Sammy for example. He hadn't even set foot inside my school before he showed were his allegiance lay, risking his life to save another. Your life, as I recall.'

'What of it?'

'So what's your decision, Cain? Will you help me or not?' Xavier asked. 'Perhaps we should ask Sammy what you should do. You are his idol, after all. But then, we both know what he would say, don't we, Cain? But what about you? What do you say?'

Cain stared down at the lake, at Sammy swimming happily in the sparkling water. The fish-faced boy spotted him watching and waved at him. Cain started to raise a hand in response, then got a hold of himself.

'I'll help,' he said at last. 'But let's get one thing straight. I'm not doing this for Sammy and I'm definitely not doing it for you. I'm only doing this because it's been far too long since I had a good rough and tumble.'

'Of course, Cain,' Xavier said, turning to go back inside. 'I wouldn't have expected anything else.'

* * *

Tokyo was always a riot of light and colour, but tonight was even more intense than usual. The city was playing host to a celebration of cultural diversity, with a focus on the mutant minority living in Japan. Mutants had always had an easier time in Asia. The culture was more ready to accept the presence of gaudily-clad superheroes than to demonise them. As such, Tokyo prided itself on being one of the more forward thinking and tolerant capitals in the world. The last thing it expected was to be a target for mutant terrorism.

A stage had been erected in preparation for a massive pop concert planned to close the festivities. The stage was currently being demolished by the Blob.

Toad bounded over to a TV camera, knocked the camera-man flying and then pointed the camera in the direction of Avalanche, who was standing in the centre of the stage.

'Good evening, Tokyo!' Avalanche shouted, a microphone in his hand. 'Tonight's broadcast is being brought to you by the Brotherhood of Mutants. You've probably heard of us. We just wanted to let you know what we think of your little celebration. Do you really think we care what you humans think of mutants? Do you really think we want to live in peace with you? Get real. We're the next stage in evolution and we're here to take over. Humanity is already in its final days, but what the hell, we thought we'd try speeding up the process anyway.'

Phantoms started to appear amid the panicked crowd and the screaming only intensified.

* * *

'So what's the plan?' Jono asked from his seat at the back of the Blackbird.

'We hit 'em fast and we hit 'em hard,' Logan growled from the co-pilot's seat.

'That's a plan?'

'Works for me,' Cain commented.

There were five X-Men aboard the jet. Kurt was piloting, eyes focussed determinedly ahead. Logan sat next to him, popping his claws in and out at irregular intervals. Jono, Bobby and Cain occupied seats at the back of the cabin. Warren and Jean-Paul were back at the school recovering from their injuries.

'I've known Jubilee to come up with better,' Jono muttered.

'You want to argue with Logan, you be my guest,' Bobby remarked.

'Quiet down back there,' Kurt ordered. 'We're closing on target.'

'Hey, what's that shaking?' Jono asked.

'Well, either Juggy here forgot to eat before we left,' Bobby quipped, 'or it's déjà vu all over again.'

'Déjà vu?'

'Remember what happened to the last X-Jet?' Logan growled. 'Time to bail, crew. Elf?'

Kurt reached out and put a three-fingered hand on his friend's shoulder. Then he and Logan disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

'You coming, Jono?' Bobby asked as he popped open the hatch.

'Do I get a choice?'

'Well, you could stay here and die,' Bobby pointed out as he froze the moisture in the air to create an ice-slide.

'You've never heard of a rhetorical question, right,' Jono remarked just before he leaped from the plane and onto the ramp. His feet slipped out from under him on the slick surface and he travelled rapidly to ground level on his backside.

'Now that's class,' Cain said.

'Your turn, Juggy,' Bobby told him.

'Like hell,' Cain replied. The armoured mutant stepped off the jet and dropped straight down. There was a huge crash as he landed.

'Guy knows how to make an entrance,' Bobby said to himself. 'Gotta give him that.'

He took a running jump from the X-Jet and landed on his ramp like a surfer, sliding downwards with a grace born of much practice. Above him, the plane finally shook itself apart and fiery wreckage rained down towards the crowd below.

'Jono?' Bobby shouted.

'I got it.' Jono was lying on his back at the bottom of the slide. He used both hands to tear the bandages away from his chest and unleashed a bio-blast straight up, disintegrating what remained of the aircraft.

'Smokin',' Bobby said. Then Mimic slammed into him, knocking him from his perch.

* * *

When Kurt and Logan reappeared, they were almost knocked off their feet by the fleeing crowd.

'Looks like most people still have enough sense to run away,' Logan commented.

'That suggests that K32's power is limited,' Kurt deduced, 'which is undoubtedly a good thing.'

'You think? Where do you suppose their hiding the guy, anyway?'

'Beats me,' Kurt replied.

The ground started to shake and Kurt ported to the top of a streetlight. Logan dug his claws into the ground and rode out the wave.

'You know, that guy's really starting to piss me off,' Logan said, indicating Avalanche with a nod of his head.

'He's all yours, my friend,' Kurt told him.

'And what'll you be up to, elf?' Logan asked.

'I feel like snaring me a Toad.'

* * *

'Blob.'

Cain stomped down the street towards the vast mutant.

'Juggernaut,' Blob said. 'What are you doing here, man? I thought you'd be on our side.'

'Now why on earth would I want to do that,' Cain retorted. 'When are you people going to get it through your thick skulls that I'm not even a mutant? I couldn't care less about your stupid little squabble.'

'Then why are you here?' Blob asked.

'I'm just here for a good scrap,' Cain told him, 'and you look like a prime target.'

'You're more than welcome to try,' Blob shot back, 'but I wouldn't fancy your chances.'

'Really?' Cain sneered. 'Let me show you why they call be the _unstoppable_ Juggernaut.'

'Yeah, well, unstoppable, meet immovable.' Blob folded his flabby arms over his chest.

'Immovable? Right,' Cain drawled. He activated his communicator. 'Kurt? This building here, is it empty?'

'Yes, I think so,' Kurt's voice crackled back. 'Why? Is it important?'

'Not really,' Cain replied before running straight into the skyscraper.

The building collapsed around him, falling back into the street.

Blob looked up and screamed as he saw the masonry tumbling towards him. His screams were soon silenced when he was buried deep beneath the remains of the building.

'Now you're immovable,' Cain remarked.

* * *

Bobby was caught up in Mimic's clutches. Jono wanted to help him, but did not know how to do so without hitting them both. 

Then he noticed movement beneath the stage. Tentatively, he crept over and ducked under the support beams.

'Hello?' he called out. 'Is anyone down here.'

'Only me,' said a bald black kid.

'Everett?' Jono said.

'Long time no see,' Everett replied as he plunged a knife into Jono's chest.

* * *

'Hold still will you,' Toad snapped as his tongue snaked out and struck the wall Kurt had been crouching on moments before.

'Now why would I want to do that?' Kurt asked as he reappeared on top of a neon side on the other side of the street. He teleported again and then reappeared in a cloud of purple smoke above Toad.

'Tag, you're it,' he laughed, tapping Toad on the shoulder as he fell past him. Then he teleported again, reappearing on top of a taxi cab.

'You think you're so clever, don't you,' Toad claimed as he shook his head to clear the smoke away. 'And by the way, this stuff stinks.'

'This from the master of personal hygiene,' Kurt quipped.

'Oh, you are so going to pay for that,' Toad said.

'Catch me if you can,' Kurt replied, bounding away. 'On second thoughts, please do.'

Toad's slimy tongue shot across the street and Kurt grabbed hold of it with his left hand before giving it a sharp tug. Toad lost his grip on the wall and was snapped across the street by the elastic nature of his own tongue.

'This is gonna hurt, isn't it?' he complained.

'Yes, I'm afraid it is,' Kurt told him as he slugged him in the face with his free hand.

* * *

'Avalanche!' Logan roared as he sprinted towards the stage. 'I'm gonna tear that armour of yours apart piece by piece!'

He sprang upwards, sailing through the air towards his quarry.

Avalanche stretched out his hand, sending waves of vibrational energy through Logan's frame.

'Got bad news for you, bub,' Logan said as he landed, cat-like, next to Avalanche. 'Adamantium's unbreakable.'

He slashed upwards with both sets of claws and Avalanche's armour fell away.

'What do you fancy losing next, bub?' Logan asked. 'I'm quite happy to keep carving you up till Christmas, but you might want to end this early by telling me where you've hidden K32. You know, your new Russian friend.'

Avalanche took another couple of steps backwards and fell off the edge of the stage.

Logan jumped down after him.

'Dammit,' he sighed after examining the body. Avalanche had struck his head when he fell and he was out cold. 'Now what?'

'Well, I was thinking that maybe you and I could talk, Logan.'

Logan spun round. A Japanese woman was approaching him from beneath the stage.

'Mariko?' he breathed.

* * *

'How's it feel to know you're beaten?' Mimic asked.

'Dunno,' Bobby replied as he struggled to free himself from Mimic's crushing grip, 'but you can tell me yourself in about sixty seconds.'

'Keep making the wisecracks, Ice-Man,' Mimic said. 'They're all you've got left. Me on the other hand, well I've got the powers of all five of the original X-Men. And that includes Cyclops' optic blasts.'

Mimic's eyes began to glow red. Then he threw back his head and screamed in pain. He let go of Bobby, who immediately created a platform of ice to stand on.

'Whatwhat have you done?' Mimic demanded.

Bobby shrugged.

'Nothing much,' he replied. 'I've just frozen all of the liquid in your eyeballs. Try blasting anybody now, sunshine.'

'I'll kill you,' Mimic insisted.

Bobby shook his head.

'No, I don't think you will. See, those five original X-Men you keep going on about, seems you've forgotten than I was one of them. I trained with those guys for years. You think I didn't figure out ways to beat them. Right now, I'm cooling you brain, slowing down the reactions going on in there. That takes care of Marvel Girl's telepathy and telekinesis. And Beast's strength and agility aren't much good if you're shivering so badly you can't control your own muscles. And as for Angel's wings, well there aren't many birds that can fly through a blizzard.'

The sky filled with whiteness as Mimic plummeted to the ground.

With a wave of his hand, Bobby carved steps in his icy tower and began to descend towards his opponent.

'Care to go a few more rounds?' he asked.

'I stillhave your powersIce-Man,' Mimic growled, covering himself with a layer of ice.

'I was hoping you would say that,' Bobby said.

He stretched out his hand and ice started to fly from Mimic to Bobby's palm.

'You see, my control's improved a lot since you absorbed those abilities,' Bobby explained. 'My power level's gone through the roof, too. I'm betting I could absorb all of you in this state if I wanted to. Course, I've never tried this stunt before so I don't know what would happen to you after that. So I guess I'll give you a choice: you can surrender now or we can continue this little experiment and pick up the pieces later.'

* * *

'Jono!'

Kurt sprang forwards as he saw Everett plunge a knife into his colleague's chest. However, he was halted in mid flight as a large hand clamped around his tail.

'Going somewhere, tovarisch?'

'Piotr?' Kurt turned and sure enough the steel giant also known as Colossus was standing behind him.

'Surprised to see me?' Colossus asked.

'Well, yes,' Kurt admitted. 'You're dead.'

Colossus cocked his head to one side as if thinking.

'Yes, that's right. I am dead, aren't I?' he mused. 'I committed suicide. Now, according to your precious God, doesn't that make me damned?'

Fangs sprouted from Colossus' mouth and his fingers curled into talons as he lunged at Kurt.

* * *

'I have missed you, my beloved,' Mariko said.

'It can't be,' Logan whispered as he stared at his deceased fiancee. 'You can't be real, but everyone of my senses is telling me otherwise.'

'Yes, that's just like you, Logan,' Mariko continued. 'When all else fails you fall back on your animal side. Where is the honourable man I fell in love with? What has become of the great samurai?'

'He'll always be a part of me, M'iko,' Logan assured her, 'just as you'll always be in there too.'

'Well then, let's cut you open and find out,' Mariko shouted. She had plucked a samurai sword from the air and was charging towards Logan with it.

Logan crossed his claws in front of him and caught the blade between them.

'Mariko,' he cried, 'what's gotten into you?'

Mariko threw back her head and laughed. A forged tongue snaked from her mouth.

'The Devil, Logan,' she said, 'the very Devil himself.'

* * *

'Was that supposed to hurt?' Jono asked. The knife hung suspended in the energy field that made up most of his body.

'There's precious little of me left that's flesh and blood,' he continued, 'or have you forgotten that, Everett.'

Jono took a step forward.

'Course Everett wouldn't have bleedin' forgotten,' Jono said. 'He was way to smart for that. But then you're not Everett, are you, mate? So why don't you bugger off back to hell where you belong.'

Everett's form wavered and then faded away into nothing.

'Nice party trick,' Jono shouted, 'but the games over now. Time to step into the light and show yourself.'

Subject K32, bundled in his coat and scarf, was standing by a support pillar. He pulled a gun from within his coat and fired again and again.

The bullets were absorbed harmlessly by Jono's energy field.

'I'm not like other guys, remember,' Jono said, walking slowly towards K32. 'You can't kill me, so why don't you just give it up.'

K32 turned and ran.

'Yoohoo, over here,' a voice called.

K32 turned and Bobby struck him with a baseball bat made of ice. The Russian mutant crumpled in a heap.

'Low quality finish, Drake,' Jono commented.

'Bite me,' Bobby shot back.

'Hey, children, over here!' Logan shouted.

He was running towards a man tied up beneath the stage.

'Your friend?' Jono asked.

'Got it in one,' Logan replied, slicing through Andrei's bonds with his claws. 'Soon as those ghosts disappeared, Andrei's scent registered loud and clear.

'Hey, what's the matter?' Bobby asked as he removed Andrei's gag. 'We beat the bad guy. All's right with the world.' 

'No, you don't understand,' Andrei insisted. 'There is another. Nikolai...Subject K32...he has a sister.'

* * *

Paige was woken from her slumber by a knock at her door.

'Who is it?' she called out.

There was no answer, just more knocking.

'All right, all right, I'm coming,' Paige said.

She opened the door.

Everett was standing on the other side.


	4. Episode Four

Episode Four

Xavier hurried along the path to the girls' dorm, cursing the weakness of his legs that still prevented him from running. He still had to support himself with a cane when he walked. He wished that the other X-Men were here to aid him, but they were all away on various assignments, or recuperating in the infirmary, leaving his student charges in his care and his alone. 

And one of those charges was going to die if he could not find some way to pick up his pace. 

Logan's message had been quite succinct. Subject K32, the Russian mutant with the ability to kill using a target's memories, had a younger sister and that sister had the same powers he did. And while K32 had now been subdued by his X-Men, the sister - Anna - remained at large. She had been on the run since she and her brother had escaped from the Russian containment facility. There was no evidence to suggest that she displayed the same psychotic tendencies as her brother, but Xavier did not believe in taking chances.

It had been Kurt who had suggested the Anna might have taken refuge within the school. He remembered Paige Guthrie mentioning something to him regarding ghosts and hallucinations. Now that he knew what he was looking for, it had been a moment's work for Xavier to mentally confirm Anna's presence on the school grounds. Worse, she was approaching Paige's position.

He had attempted to warn Paige telepathically, of course, but whatever power the Russians used it interfered with psionics in the same way it distorted the readings of Logan's hypersenses.

Which left Xavier with no alternative but to try and reach Paige the old-fashioned way.

These were the thoughts going through Charles Xavier's mind when Paige Guthrie was thrown out throw the wall of the girls' dormitory.

* * *

Paige had to think fast. Thankfully, all those long hours spent in the Biosphere back at the Massachusetts Academy had paid off. She tore at her clothes, at her skin, at her flesh and ripped it all away, letting it flutter to the ground like dry leaves in Fall. Beneath all those layers she reached stone and then stone was tough enough to withstand a fall from four-storeys up.

The impact still knocked the breath from her, though.

'Paige, are you all right?' Xavier called to her.

'I'll live, Professor,' Paige assured him. 'Just a little winded, is all.'

'And the girl? Anna?' Xavier asked.

'What girl?' Paige inquired. 'The only person I've seen is Everett.'

'Everett?' Xavier repeated and his heart skipped a beat. Of all the possible mutants Anna could have manifested, Everett was perhaps the worse. Code-named Synch, Everett Thomas was possessed of a synchronistic aura that allowed him to lock on to the powers of nearby mutants and to duplicate them, often improving on them. In the midst of a school full of mutants, his raw power would be phenomenal. 

'Paige, we have to get out of here,' Xavier ordered. 'Perhaps if we gather the students in the Danger Room we might be safe until'

'Until what, Professor?' Everett asked. He was hovering in the air above them, green energy enveloping his hands. 'Until you're all dead, just like me?'

He raised one hand and a bolt of emerald energy arced in Xavier's direction.

* * *

Xavier dived out of the way as the blast tore up the ground around him. Clods of earth flew into the air and came to rest on top of him. A lump of dirt landed on the back of his neck and trickled down beneath the collar of his jacket.

'Need a hand up,' a woman asked in a soft Scots brogue.

Xavier glanced up.

Moira McTaggert smiled down at him.

* * *

'Wanna play some more, Paige?' Everett asked.

'You're not real,' Paige muttered to herself. 'You're a figment of my imagination.'

'I'm a figment, am I, Paige?' Everett asked. 'Tell me, could a figment punch you through a wall? Could a figment do this?'

Spines appeared along Everett's left forearm. He swung the arm round and the spikes shot out like a flurry of arrows in Paige's direction. She shielded her eyes as the spines shattered on impact with her stone body, but the still hurt.

There was an ornamental fountain in the garden, topped by a statue of an angel. Paige picked up the angel and threw it up at Everett. He laughed as his body became insubstantial and the statue flew straight threw him, smashing against the side of the dormitory building.

Brute force clearly was not going to win this fight so Paige turned and ran. 

She rounded the dorm building and crossed on to the basketball court.

We've been here before, she thought. Now what?

Think fast, she told herself. If brawn won't work then it's time to engage brain.

'Everybody clear the court,' she ordered.

The players stared at her blankly, but then Everett rounded the corner after her, firing lightning bolts alternately from each eye.

'What more incentive do you need people?' Paige demanded. 'Now move!'

The basketball players ran.

Paige stepped on to the court.

'Emergency override code Delta-7, Gamma-9. Ident: Guthrie, P.,' Paige declared.

The floor of the court began to move. A crack formed in the middle running the length of the court as the two halves began to move apart. A basketball rolled across the ground before falling through the ever-widening gap.

As soon as she judged that the two halves had parted enough, Paige jumped down through the gap.

* * *

'You could have saved me, Charles,' Moira was saying. 'You could have saved me and you didn't.'

'I tried, Moira,' Xavier told her. 'I tried so hard. I just didn't have the strength.'

'You have the most powerful mind on the planet, Charles,' Moira persisted. 'Do you really think that there is anything you cannot accomplish if you really want it? I guess you just didn't want me badly enough.'

'That's not true, Moira,' Xavier insisted. 'You know it's not true.'

'What I know,' Moira said, bending down to pick up Xavier's cane, 'is that I'm dead while you're still very much alive.'

'When you died, Moira, I wanted so very much to join you,' Xavier admitted. 'For a long time I didn't think my life worth living if I had to live it without you.'

'Well, that's an oversight that can easily be remedied,' Moira assured him before bringing the cane down hard across his back.

Xavier cried out in pain, rolling onto his side and trying to use his arms to ward of a second blow. He felt something in his wrist snap as the cane came down again.

'Moira,' he pleaded, 'please don't do this.'

'I thought this was what you wanted, Charles,' Moira sneered as she struck the side of his skull. 'This way we can be together foreverin the cold embrace of death.'

Xavier curled up in a foetal ball as Moira continued to rain blows down upon him.

'Moira, please forgive me,' he whispered and he allowed his consciousness to slip away from his physical form.

* * *

Paige landed in a crouch on the hangar floor. As she had hoped, there was still one X-Jet present. She was about to run towards it when she heard screaming up above. One of the basketball players had not cleared the court in time and was hanging on to one of the edges by her fingertips. Paige watched as the girl's grip weakened and she dropped to the ground, landing with a painful thud.

Paige raced across to her.

'Are you okay?' she asked.

'I think I've twisted something,' the girl complained.

Paige supported her as she got to her feet.

'Come on, let's get you aboard,' Paige said, half carrying the limping girl up the ramp and into the X-Jet.

'You can't hide from me in there, Paige,' Everett said as he descended into the hangar.

'Who said anything about hiding,' Paige commented as she slid into the pilot seat. 'Try these on for size, 'Everett'!'

Paige launched two stinger missiles straight at her former team-mate.

'Harsh,' the female basketball player remarked.

'Yeah, well I've been having a crappy day,' Paige told her.

As the smoke cleared, Paige could see Everett picking himself up off the floor.

'Guess you think that was kinda clever, huh?' he said.

'That was the general idea,' Paige muttered. 'Now let's see how you like a second dose.'

'Paige, you must listen to me,' Xavier said.

'Professor, how did you get here?' Paige asked.

'It's my astral form only,' Xavier admitted. 'My physical body is otherwise occupied so I'm afraid I shall be of limited use to you.'

'Well, any advice you're prepared to give at this point would be greatly appreciated, sir,' Paige told him.

'These 'ghosts' are the creations of a mutant named Anna,' Xavier informed Paige. 'If you can stop her then I believe all of these manifestations will lose their coherency. She's down here with you somewhere, but she's distorting your perceptions so that you cannot locate her. Now if you can only come up with a method of flushing her out'

'In that case,' Paige remarked, adjusting the controls, 'let's see how our uninvited guest likes a taste of this.'

Two more missiles shot out from the X-Jet, but these streaked passed Everett, impacting the wall beyond.

'Ha, you missed me,' Everett taunted her.

'I wasn't aiming for you, moron,' Paige muttered. 'Computer, seal doors and vents.'

White gas began to flood the hangar.

'What did you do?' the other girl asked Paige.

'Filled the room with tear gas,' Paige told her. 'This should ruin Anna's day, always assuming she doesn't have filtered lungs, of course.'

'Filtered lungs,' the girl asked. 'Is that even possible?'

'You haven't been at this school very long, have you?' Paige remarked. 'Look, there are some gas masks in that locker over there. Let's go and see what out mystery intruder looks like.'

'You'd be surprised,' the basketball player murmured.

'Sorry?' Paige asked.

'Nothing,' the other girl responded hurriedly. 'Well, aren't we going to see what's out there?'

'Sure, just stay behind me, okay.'

'With pleasure.'

The two girls descended on to the hangar floor. The gas was dissipating through the open ceiling, but there was still a fine white mist obscuring their vision.

'What's that over there?' Basketball-player said, pointing.

They hurried over in the direction of the shape.

A girl in combat fatigues was doubled over, tears streaming from her eyes.

She spat something at the girls in Russian.

'I'm sorry,' Paige told her, 'I don't understand you.'

'She told you to stay away,' Everett told her. He seemed less solid than before - Paige suspected that Anna was having trouble maintaining the image. 'I'm here to make sure that you do.'

Paige took a step forward and Everett placed a hand on her chest, firmly obstructing her progress.

'I mean it, Paige,' he said.

'Listen, Everett,' she began, 'I know this isn't really you. But I also know that you've been created, at least in part, from my memories. So I guess this gives me a chance to say something I never really got the chance to say before. I miss you, Ev. You were always the moral centre of the group, the straight-up guy that kept the rest of us in line. I mean, I didn't have a crush on you like Jubilee or Monet, but I liked you. A lot. And I think it's a tragic waste that you died when you did. 

'But you died saving lives and that's how the Everett Thomas I know would have wanted to go. Don't think I haven't replayed that moment a thousand times in my head wondering if there was something I could have done differently that might have saved you. There wasn't. I'm resigned to that fact now. I've dealt with it and I've moved on. And it's time you moved on, too.

'Goodbye, Everett.'

Paige took another step forward and Everett dispersed around her like smoke.

Anna looked up at her, beseechingly.

'I'm sorry, Anna,' Paige said, 'but your ghosts have no power over me anymore.'

'That's reassuring to know, Paige,' Basketball-player said. 'Now step away from the girl.'

'What are you talking about?' Paige asked as she turned around.

'She's coming with me.'

Basketball-player was growing before Paige's eyes. Her dark hair was becoming redder and her skin was taking on a blue tint. And she was holding a very large gun.

'Mystique,' Paige said once the morph was complete.

'It's always gratifying to be recognised,' Mystique replied. 'Now, as I was saying, Anna is coming with me. My little Brotherhood has run your X-Men a merry chase with regard to the girl's brother, but he was never the true prize. His mental problems made him completely unsuitable for my cause. But this one, why she's just waiting to be moulded to my purpose.'

'I won't let you take her,' Paige insisted.

'And how, pray, do you intend to stop me?' Mystique asked. 'Believe me, this laser will happily burn through the granite of which you are currently composed.'

'What about diamond, darling?' another voice asked.

As Mystique turned round, a diamond fist connected with her face.

'Remember what I said to you about physical violence always being the last resort?' Emma Frost asked Paige. 'I'm beginning to revise my opinion. That was fun.'

'I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself,' Paige replied.

Emma frowned.

'Sarcasm, however, remains the lowest form of wit,' she remarked. 'Sorry I took so long getting here, darling. Minor crisis in Morocco, but that's all sorted now.'

Emma Frost crouched down to examine Anna.

'Now what have we here, child,' she said. 'Now, now, don't go trying to use your ghost powers on me, dear. I assure you that I am quite impervious to all forms of psychic attack while in this state. And my protégé over there has already shown that she is quite capable of resisting you.'

'Your protégé,' Paige began. 'Since when?'

'Shush, darling,' Emma said. 'Having said all that, Anna, I don't believe you really want to hurt anyone. I think you're just a frightened little girl, terrified of the world around you and looking for a place where you can be safe. Well, here's the thing: you've found it, darling. Thta's why you came here, wasn't it? Because you thought you might find help here. So why don't you come right over here and tell Auntie Emma all about it, hm?'

Emma stretched out a sparkling hand.

Anna looked at it fearfully.

Then, gingerly, she placed her own hand in Emma's and Emma gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Anna ran across the gap between them and threw her arms around Emma's neck, sobbing into her shoulder.

'There, there, child,' Emma said softly. 'That's the way. Let it all out. Nobody is going to hurt you anymore. I promise.'

Emma Frost looked over the child and met Paige's eyes.

'And you, dear, can tell Charles that he owes me substantially for this one.'

* * *

'So what are we going to do about Nikolai?' Logan asked.

He and Xavier were strolling along the banks of Graymalkin Lake. The sun was setting on the horizon and the water was tinted orange and yellow.

'I've placed him in a containment unit until we can figure out an answer to that question,' Xavier replied. 'Nikolai is quite unbalanced. It's entirely possible that his treatment at the hands of the KGB is to blame, but I suspect that he was unstable long before they pressed him into service. Until I can find a way to treat his mind, controlling his powers is completely out of the question.'

'And Anna?' Logan inquired. 'Kid like that doesn't deserve to be caught up in this mess.'

'How very true,' Xavier agreed. 'Her I'm more hopeful about. Her experiences have scarred her, true, but I've had a number of therapy sessions with her already and she's making remarkable progress. In time, I think she might become a valuable part of this school. Assuming, of course, that she can find away to put the past behind her.'

'That's never easy, Charles,' Logan said. 'Take it from one who knows.'

'I know, Logan,' Xavier said, 'but it's an effort well spent. Change is brewing and we must be prepared to change with it, not dwell on what once was. We live in interesting times, my friend.'

'You know, Charles,' Logan commented, 'the Chinese consider that a curse.'

Xavier smiled grimly.

'And who's to say they're wrong.'


End file.
